


A Fistful of Coins

by CyclonicJet



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:13:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22244647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyclonicJet/pseuds/CyclonicJet
Summary: When Ramsey met Zora.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 63





	A Fistful of Coins

Ramsey ran the coin through his hands, rapping it over each knuckle in turn, before finally pursuing his thumb against his fingers and flipping it back over his shoulder. The shine of polished copper melted into a lustrous gold as it tumbled into the growing pile of coins behind him. He retrieved another and again rankled it across his fingers before tossing it onto the pile as well.

A dull neon haze glowed outside the window, its light suffusing his office with a kind of haunted gloom. The hour was late. But still he continued flicking coins behind him. He found it cathartic. Helped calm his nerves. He peered inside the small ornate chest on the desk before him. Only a small handful of coins remained. 

He let out a long sigh. “Nearly there.” he murmured.

As he reached down to collect another one, he suddenly heard the sound of creaking floorboards nearby. He froze. A moment later there was a knock on the door. He stared at the glass panelled door, watching the silhouette that was moving behind the tinted window.

“Ugh.” he said. “I’m afraid official consulting hours are over. Try coming back tomorrow.”

A slight laughter trickled through the door. “Morning eh?” came the long southern drawl of a woman. “Alright then. I’ll come back at sunrise.”

The silhouette vanished from the window and the sound of footsteps walking down the hallway echoed back to him. Ramsey waited and listened intently. As soon as her footsteps were no longer audible he sprang into motion.

He picked up the chest and dropped it on the floor behind him. He started shovelling the gold coins into it. He had no idea who that woman had been. But her tone suggested she wasn’t after his services. He rather suspected she was after something else entirely. He had dodged police before. Slipped away from angry former associates. Even fended off the odd bounty hunter. But the only way he managed to stay that elusive was by moving constantly. “Better skedaddle out of here before the sun comes u-”

* * *

The first light of the morning sun cut through the window. Ramsey looked up in disbelief. It couldn’t be morning already. He couldn't have lost track of time that badly. It had definitely been night outside just a few minutes ago.

The sound of footsteps in the hallway outside returned with sharp clarity. Ramsey wasted no time. He frantically thrust the rest of the coins into the chest and closed it, sealing the latch on the lid. He picked it up and put it under his arm. The footsteps were drawing nearer. He ran to the window and slid it open. He jumped down onto the fire escape.

As he began to run down the gantry a voice sounded behind him. “You ain’t half too predictable Ramsey.” it said.

He turned to find a woman dressed as a cowboy sitting on the stairs behind him. Her gun hung loose in her hand as she eyed him up and down. A low whistle escaped her. “They weren’t kidding about the gerbil face now were they.” she said, her lips forming into a smug smirk.

A bunch of thoughts blundered into Ramsey’s mind. After a short moment of deliberation he chose the most irrelevant one to vocalise. “Wait. Weren’t you just out in the corridor!? How did-“

She gave a hard laugh. “Come on now Ramsey.” she drawled. “That’s a trick of the trade. You can’t just ask a girl to spill her secrets like that.”

He mock laughed back. “Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. So can I assume you ain’t here for an evaluation.”

She flipped her gun over and changed her expression to one of thoughtfulness. “Depends on what you mean by ‘evaluation’. I mean. I’m definitely here to evaluate something.” Her face changed back to smugly grinning at him. “Can you guess what it is?”

“I can guess.” he said taking a step back.

She laughed again. She seemed to find this all very amusing for a bounty hunter. “Come now Ramsey. You don’t think you can escape now do you?”

“Well. No.” he said. “But. You can’t blame a guy for trying!”

He leapt over the side of the gangway and began turning his legs to gold. The ability to jump from high places without breaking every bone in your body was a handy little trick he’d picked up. It certainly came in handy in his line of work.

He closed his eyes and braced himself to hit the ground, but the impact never came. He peeked open his golden eye to see that he wasn’t moving. He was floating in mid air. The chest of coins promptly slipped out from beneath his arm and slammed into the ground below, breaking apart and scattering golden coins everywhere.

The bounty hunter laughed. “That was your big escape plan?” she said. “Gosh. You really don’t know who you’re dealing with do you?”

Ramsey flailed his limbs in a useless gesture to free himself of whatever was leaving him suspended. Eventually he grew tired and stopped. “Not really. No.” he panted. “Why don’t you enlighten me.”

She seemed to consider it a moment. “All right then. Why not! Not like it’ll matter once I cash you in!”

She reached out over the rail and grabbed him by the collar. She left him dangling over the edge. “The names Zora. Zora Salazar. Professional bounty hunter.”

That name Ramsey had heard before. She was the best bounty hunter in the business. She was also the most wanted bounty hunter in the business. The price on her head was damn sure worth a lot more than his own was.

“Pleased to meet‘cha.” he said sarcastically. “Let me guess. You're after the price on my head?”

She laughed. “You ain’t too bright a fella if your only just figuring that one out.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” he replied drily.

Zora seemingly took that bit of dry wit as a cue. In an instant her expression changed to one of dead seriousness, and the familiar tug of gravity began pulling on him again. She became the only thing between him and a fast trip to the ground.

“So. Tell me. Are you going to come with me easy like? Or am I going to have to carry you in a broken mess of bones?”

He struggled again against her hold, but her grip was ironclad. He wasn’t going anywhere. He shrugged and sighed. “Trust me lady. I don’t want any broken bones.”

Her smug smile returned. “Good. No need to make this unduly difficult. Can’t say I ain’t a little disappointed though. I thought this’d be more challenging.”

“Well. I think I can acquiesce that request.” he said activating his epithet. The lower half of his body again began turning to gold. 

“Hey. What’d you think your-“ she started. But as more and more of Ramsey turned to gold, the more and more he began to weigh. Zora could no longer sustain her grip as tightly on his rapidly increasing mass. She grunted as she tried to maintain her grasp.

"Like I said. I don't want no broken bones." Ramsey said. "But I also really don't want to go with you. So I'm splitting the difference here."

“Heh.” she groaned. “Cleverer than you look then aren't ya.”

“Honey. I’m full of tricks. For instance...” He activated his epithet again, and began transmuting Zora’s glove into gold as well. Her eyes widened as the golden metal crawled up her glove and towards her arm. As it approached her skin she could no longer repress a yelp. She recoiled, releasing Ramsey as she did so. He fell three stories and crashed into the ground. His legs, now solid gold, absorbed most of the impact. Most of it.

“Agh.” he moaned loudly. “That hurt like a-

“RAMSEY!” Zora roared. Her face appeared over the side of the rail, her gun following swiftly behind it. “YOU RAT BASTARD! NO ONE OUTPLAYS ZORA SALAZAR!”

A hail of bullets started raining down at him. He yelped himself and serpentined his way down the alleyway. It didn’t do him any good though. Zora was an exceptional shot. Every single bullet hit him. Many pained noises escaped him before he finally reached the end of the alley and rounded the corner. He didn’t even try and look back. Didn’t check to see if she was following him. He just booked it as fast as he could down the street. "Oh your deep in it now Murdoch!" he whined to himself as he fled.

* * *

Zora hit the ground and growled. She had underestimated him...Let him get the better of her...A sudden grin broke upon her face. Finally. Prey worth chasing. 

She’d let him get away from her today. No sense in ending the chase early. Not when it was only just beginning and it was promising to be so much fun.

“Run fast rat boy.” she muttered. “Scurry away as quick as you can. Cause now. I’m gunning for ya.”

She looked down at the scattered coins. She reached down and scooped up one of them. She inspected it’s golden facets for a moment before activating her epithet. The coin dissolved in her hand, turning from gold, to copper, to dust.

She crushed her hand closed, blowing the fine powder away on the wind. She grinned. “ Hope you find someplace good to hide Ramsey. Cause hunting season just opened up.”


End file.
